Optical Nova Candidate in M 31

ATel #1580; M. Henze (Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, MPE), V. Burwitz (MPE), W. Pietsch (MPE), A. Updike (Clemson University, CU), P. Milne, G. Williams (University of Arizona), D. H. Hartmann (CU)
on 16 Jun 2008; 14:46 UT
Credential Certification: Frank Haberl (fwh@mpe.mpg.de)

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We report the discovery of an optical nova candidate in M 31 on two 11x60s stacked R filter CCD images obtained with the robotic 60cm telescope with an E2V CCD (2kx2k) of the Livermore Optical Transient Imaging System (Super-LOTIS, located at Steward Observatory, Kitt Peak, Arizona, USA). The object was first detected on 2008 June 14.46 and 16.46 UT with respective magnitudes of 18.0 and 17.7. The position for the nova candidate is RA = 00h42m37.72s, Dec = +41d12'30.0"(J2000, accuracy of 0.3"), which is 1'14" west and 3'39" south of the core of M 31.
All magnitudes given are obtained from a photometric solution using R magnitudes of the Local Group Survey M 31 catalogue (Massey et al. 2006, AJ, 131, 2478). No object is visible at the position of the nova candidate on Super-LOTIS images of 2008 June 09.46 UT (limiting R magnitude of ~18.5). There is no entry in VizieR/CDS for this object and no minor planet could be found on this position using the MPC/IAU Minor Planet Checker (see http://scully.harvard.edu/~cgi/CheckMP ).

Erratum: The new nova candidate reported in ATel #1567 is a re-brightening of Nova M31N 2008-03b discovered by K. Hornoch on 2008-03-07.756 UT.